1 	Meeting Opened
•	Meeting start: 1:12pm
•	Attendance: Rohan Wallace (Chair), Msquared (Administrator), Matthew “Firebird” Smith (Treasurer), Dave Cake (Board member, arrive around 2pm), Peter Kelly (Board member; arrive 1:20pm; depart 3:39pm), Shay Telfer Board (Board member), Ruth Turner (Board member), Elaine Kemp (Swancon 2005 Convener, SlashGrrlCon Convener), Ken McCaw (Swancon 2006 Convener), Michael Dawson (Swancon 2007 Convener).
•	Guests: April Rutkay (Swancon 2007 Treasurer), Mark Turnley (GenghisCon 2006 Convener).
•	Observers: Jenny Kelly (Board-appointed auditor 2006; arrive 1:20pm; depart 3:39pm).
•	Apologies: none
•	Absent: none
2 	Minutes of previous meetings
The minutes of the following previous Board meetings were accepted without changes:
•	May 15th, 2005
•	July 24th, 2005
•	September 18th, 2005
3 	Matters arising
3.1 	Online issues
This topic is held over until Dave Cake arrives (estimated to be 2pm).
3.2 	Mailing list issues
3.2.1 	Electronic mailing list post size restriction
The Board’s general electronic mailing list (wasff@sf.org.au) had previously imposed a limit of 40K on the size of any post.  This has been increased to permit posts up to 1M in size.
3.2.2 	Board-exclusive electronic mailing list
The creation of a Board-member-only mailing list has been postponed until all sf.org.au mail is migrated to an appropriate independent hosting organisation (most likely to be bur.st, with which WASFF already has a hosting account).
3.2.3 	Board wiki and notice of updates
When someone posts to or updates the Board Wiki, they should send a brief announcement to the board@sf mailing list.
3.3 	FTLRS CD license
Nothing has been done since the last Board meeting.  Someone will need to find out what WASFF is permitted to do with its copy of the FTLRS CD.
4 	Board reports
4.1 	Treasurer’s report
Current liquid assets: $25,758.44.
Current liabilities estimate: $2110.00.
Liabilities have been added to concom treasurers’ workbooks, but it is difficult to determine what the liabilities actually are.
50 receipt books with 25 carbon copy receipts have been ordered and will be available before Fandomedia. The receipt books will be distributed to the committees as follows:
•	10 – Swancon 2006
•	15 – Swancon 2007
•	10 – Genghiscon 2006
•	4 – Fandomedia 2005
The receipt books should be available by Friday, allowing Ju to have hers in time for Fandomedia on Saturday and Sunday.
4.1.1 	Treasurer’s report – Swancon 2004
This convention’s books are still in progress to finalise some outstanding transactions, including:
•	a cheque from Dymock’s via John Parker that went through Shay’s washing machine;
•	Valhalla monies owed.
Shay will assist in talking to someone from the Swancon 2004 committee to find out what the Dymock’s cheque was for.  Shay will also assist with chasing up of other outstanding issues related to Swancon 2004.
Firebird will write up a letter for Doug Thorpe of Valhalla and review it with Rohan before sending it.
4.1.2 	Treasurer’s report – Swancon 2005
Steve Gunnell has finished wrapping up the books and will write his final report.  The books will then be handed over to the auditor.
Minor unresolved issues:
•	the collection of 2 dollar donations for art show entry has been lost (which was probably lost by Tiki when she moved to Melbourne);
•	ARTSWA grant acquittal
Elaine Kemp and Steve Gunnell will send the details of the original ARTSWA submission to the Board.  We do not know at this stage whether the Board itself must sign off on the acquittal, or that it may be sufficient for the concom to do so.
4.1.3 	Treasurer’s report – Swancon 2006
The Geek Trash'n'Treasure went well, although there was a $180 discrepancy.  This may have been due to chocolate sales or similar.  The budgeted amount of sellers and buyers turned up, though expenses were higher than expected and as such the event made a deficit of $80.
The Treasurer asks that all membership and Tshirt records be integrated in to the new financial system before the next board meeting for audit reasons.
During discussions after this part of the report:
•	Chris Bobridge is a bad boy for not sorting out the TnT (gave up a week before it happened);
•	Ken reckons could have advertised in Quokka etc, to improve exposure;
•	Apparently a Geek TnT held in 1990 was very successful;
•	Ken could have chosen a cheaper venue perhaps;
•	Another SF-related organisation has had successful geek events at that venue.
4.1.4 	Treasurer’s report – Swancon 2007
Nothing significant has happened since the last Board meeting.
April asked if the budget could be approved, but the Treasurer indicated that there needs to be more detail and subdivision of items first; use Swancon 2006's budget as an example.
The venue (Acacia Hotel) has not yet been finalised as the venue will not permit it over a year in advance.  This may be because they intend to change their pricing structure in the meantime.  Acacia apparently will have their new pricing sorted out in the new year and may then be willing to finalise the arrangement.
4.1.5 	Treasurer’s report – GenghisCon 2005
Tara Smith has completed the audit of Genghiscon 2005. The surplus from this convention has been divided between GCI and WASFF. A cheque for $759.09 has already been received from GCI and banked. The Treasurer recommends to the Board that this convention now be closed.
Tara wants signed bank reconciliation every meeting or monthly.
The Board closed GenghisCon 2005.
4.1.6 	Treasurer’s report – GenghisCon 2006
No major financial transactions have occurred since last board meeting.
GenghisCon 2006 has one of its biggest fundraising opportunities for this convention coming up on the 1st of December with the screening of Harry Potter. 
Mark noted that a BBQ held by GenghisCon 2006 was not included in the Treasurer's report.  This prompted a discussion about events and other things that happen opportunistically and therefore without sufficient notice to be approved at a Board meeting.  Dave arrived during this discussion.  Summary of discussion:
•	In some cases opportunities such as this can be handled as part of miscellaneous income and expense.  This would result in a variation to those items in the actuals, and that should trigger the budget to be modified to account for it, which could then subsequently be approved at the next Board meeting.
•	If an opportunity is likely to cause a large change in the budget, it might be better to have it approved by the Board beforehand.  Even on short notice this is possible with the use of the Board's electronic mailing list.  (This has been done in the past with approval within as little as four or five hours.)
4.1.7 	Treasurer’s report – Fandomedia 2005
No major financial transactions have occurred since last board meeting.
4.1.8 	Treasurer’s report – Slash Grrl Con
The slash Grrls Minicon came in on budget and came out with a surplus of $19.31.
4.1.9 	Treasurer’s report – Treasurer's comments
With the recent issues relating to the financial side of Fandomedia 2005 the Treasurer recommends that all future conventions with a turn over of $5000 or less be transacted through the main WASFF account. This is will reduce the amount of time spent on financials that convenors with smaller conventions need to do. Additionally this will also reduce the number of accounts that need to be audited.
The Treasurer recommended that a bylaw to the above effect be made, which triggered some discussion on the matter.  Summary:
•	Making such a rule a bylaw makes it immovable;
•	Perhaps it should be made a recommendation, rather than a by-law;
•	Issues were raised about expectations upon concom treasurers and conveying those expectations;
•	Issues were raised about the amount of management we are expecting of concom treasurers, although this ought to be reduced when the current system is bedded down;
•	Perhaps rather than mandating the system of financial management, WASFF should only mandate the reporting requirements and merely recommend a system of financial management;
At this point, Ken indicated that he needed to leave and requested that the Swancon 2006 part of the meeting be dealt with immediately.
5 	Convention reports
5.1 	Swancon 2006
See official report for specific details.
Summary for the period since the last Board meeting:
•	Swancon 2006 has just enough cash;
•	There are two airfares to buy in next 2 months, these should be covered by membership purchases;
•	Elaine Kemp has withdrawn as art show coordinator, but is still assisting with knowledge, this position should be reassigned at the next committee meeting;
•	Chris Bobridge has withdrawn from the committee, his duties have been redistributed among committee members;
•	Chris Philips and Dave Thatcher have come aboard the committee;
•	There are approximately 110 members, 27 supporting members;
•	There are an additional 50 “Tickets” to the masquerade/concert;
•	The program will consist of five streams, although not all will be concurrent, and we have extra space if we need it;
•	WASFF AGM is planned for Sunday 10 – 12 in the glass room upstairs;
•	The 2007 Launch is scheduled for after dinner on Sunday;
Discussions followed.  Summary:
•	Both ad-hoc games and organised gaming are planned for the gaming stream and gaming areas;
•	The art show will be from Saturday morning to Sunday dinner time upstairs on level 1 near the video stream;
•	Most panel slots have been filled;
•	A draft of the program is already available on the website;
•	There have been no open programming meetings thus far due to availability of the programming coordinator, but such meetings are planned for December or January;
•	The programming responsibilities have now been delegated to a group consisting of Paul Kidd and Owen Wylde, with assistance from John Parker, the former programming coordinator.
Summary for the period leading up to the next Board meeting:
•	We should have paid for all remaining airfares;
•	We expect membership upgrades;
•	We should have a web-viewable version of the program on the website;
•	We should have finalised planning for the two guest dinners;
•	We plan to start selling the Ippongi Bang concert tickets.
Discussions followed.  Summary:
•	One of the guest dinners will be at Hog's Breath Cafe, the other might be at Dusit Thai;
•	There are 100 masquerade tickets, 50 for JAFWA, the remainder may go to WaiCon and/or JAFWA;
At some point during this discussion the topic deviated to accounting procedures.
6 	General business
6.1 	Accounting procedures
WASFF is undergoing many changes in its accounting procedures, primarily in order to clean up future audit reports and ensure consistent accounting and reporting across subcommittees.  Firebird has been putting such procedures in place with all subcommittee treasurers, although there have been teething problems and there has been some resistance, both from some of the treasurers and from some of the convenors.
Relevant points in favour of the new system:
•	The new system has made the Treasure's job easier to manage, but sub-committee treasurers are still getting used to the new systems, which needs to be manageable for them;
•	Standard systems, spreadsheets, etc. eliminate the need for each convention to reinvent accounting methods;
•	The new system helps maintain all information in a current form that allows easy reporting;
•	The new system moves us toward clearer audit reports, which was requested by the 2005 AGM;
•	The new system provides new convention committees with background information before they make a Swancon bid. 
Relevant points against the new system:
•	The new system is bad for those who already have their own system or those who do not want to learn a new system;
•	The new system is complicated and may put off new committees.
Other salient points:
•	A standard reporting format (for reporting to the Board) may be more important than standard accounting system;
•	The spreadsheet that Firebird has come up with to manage conventions provides the reports that the Board require;
•	Each committee's financial status needs to be updated monthly and reported at each Board meeting;
•	We are in state of transition, and thus more work is involved this year; once the system is finalised and documented, it will be much easier to manage and should result in less difficulty than has resulted this year;
•	Swancons are much bigger than ten years ago, but we need to make sure the system we end up with is not as much work as it has been this year;
•	This new system has been built from advice from our Auditor;
•	Small conventions can be managed by the Treasurer instead of having their own treasurer and their own account (eg: Slash Grrl Con ran fine, and its convenor was happy working with Firebird);
Comments:
•	Ruth: prefer to recommend this system, not mandate it.  Report is most important bits;
•	April: not really sure about that, it's doable, but if your not comfortable with accounting, numbers, or excel, then could be difficult.
It was proposed by Ruth and agreed by the Board that the financial procedures we put in place be reviewed at the close of Swancon 2007.
7 	Board reports (continued)
7.1 	Administrator’s report
All copies of the Red Book that we have date back approximately five years and are showing their age.
Thank you to all those convenors who submitted their reports in a timely fashion, and to those secretaries who submitted their minutes.
7.2 	Chair’s report
Nothing additional.
8 	Convention reports (continued)
8.1 	Swancon 2005
Nothing additional to report, see official report.
Steven Dedman has acquittal report ready (but requires figures), and will send a copy to Rohan for countersign from the Board.
8.2 	Swancon 2007
See official report for specific details.  Summary of report:
•	Nothing much financial to report;
•	Need to confirm Australian guest of honour;
•	Still looking for an international guest of honour;
Summary of subsequent discussion:
•	Elaine commented that the art show materials and related things have been grossly underestimated;
•	Elaine also mentioned that Stephen Dedman is available to help with contacts if required.
8.3 	GenghisCon 2006
A written report was not submitted.  The oral report's summary:
•	Seed money was submitted by GCI, but has not yet been needed (GenghisCon may be able to run without seed money in the future);
•	The convention is January 27th-29th, same location as last year (Trinity College Conference Centre), and with much the same format as last year.;
•	18 memberships have been sold, less than preferred, but not off-target yet;
•	One membership was given away as a prize at the quiz night;
•	The Panel Coordinator has resigned, resulting in programming being behind schedule, although a draft program is well under way;
•	The short-notice BBQ on the 16th of October yielded a surplus of $75 in cash and some cans of drink;
•	We have 150 tickets to sell for Harry Potter 4 (The Goblet of Fire);
•	GenghisCon's current high priority items: sorting out the program, selling memberships and accommodation.
Summary of resulting discussion:
•	Firebird asked if we still have the safety gear from last year's LARP, Mark replied in the affirmative.
8.4 	Fandomedia 2005
See official report for specific details.  Summary of report:
•	No major financial transactions since last Board meeting;
•	Planning in final stages;
•	Program complete and printed;
•	Basically ready to go next weekend.
8.5 	Fandomedia 2006
No official report available (not yet formally a WASFF project).  Summary of current status:
•	Guests confirmed;
•	Draft budget sent to the Board for perusal;
•	Artwork for launching of Fandomedia 2006 at Fandomedia 2005 is 75% complete.
8.6 	Slash Grrl Con
See official report for specific details.  Summary of report:
•	Made a surplus of $19;
•	Attendance of 16;
•	Feedback has been most positive.
Firebird commented that a small convention of this nature would probably benefit from more time to plan, perhaps 2-3 months.
Slash Grrl Con is all closed off.
9 	General business (continued)
9.1 	Fandomedia 2006
The Board approves the creation of Fandomedia 2006 as a WASFF project subject to budget approval.
9.2 	GCI membership of WASFF con
GenghicCon Incorporated may technically not have any members as a result of GenghisCon 2005 being a WASFF convention, not a GCI convention.
The solution is for GCI to grant GenghisCon attencees GCI membership.  WASFF has no objection to this solution and leaves the matter in the hands of GCI to proceed accordingly.
Mark Turnley leaves at  15:49.
9.3 	Online stuff
9.3.1 	Electronic mailing list posting policy
The maximum size of posts to the wasff@sf electronic mailing list has been increased from 40K to 1M.
9.3.2 	WASFF Wiki
The WASFF Wiki has been set up.  The section for the Board's internal use can be found at:
•	http://wasff.sf.org.au/twiki/bin/view/Board/
The section that could be used for the Red Book can be found at:
•	http://wasff.sf.org.au/twiki/bin/view/Redbook/
9.3.3 	sf.org.au/bur.st hosting
swancon.com.au needs to be put in WASFF's name.  Control should be with the Administrator.
swancon.com.au needs to be renewed.  Shay will take care of this provided that a registrar charging no more than $90 can be found.
Core sf.org.au web and mail hosting should be migrated to WASFF's bur.st account.  Dave Cake has offered to take this on, will provide a timeline, and will obtain Jeremy's assistance where required.
9.4 	Social event for Christmas
Firebird has suggested that WASFF organise a Christmas gathering for members of the Board and all current subcommittees as a “thank you” for working for and with WASFF during this year.
The gathering should be organised to cater to 50 people or so and cost up to $200 or $300.  Board members could do the cooking and serving of beverages.  Ruth has offered to organise this event for January 15th.  April will advise on vegetarian requirements.
9.5 	JAFWA’s 15th birthday
JAFWA will be celebrating fifteenth birthday on the last Saturday of this month (the 26th of November).
JAFWA may change role or disappear, so come along! Invite anyone you know who has ever been, etc
10 	Meeting closed
This meeting of the Board was closed at 4:14pm.
11 	Next meeting
The date of the next meeting of the Board of WASFF was not set.